Side by Side
by hmichelle1294
Summary: Bellamy and Clarke are both feeling the stress of the ground, Clarke more so after the kidnapping incident with Finn. Their friendship is growing stronger through each trial. Is it eventually going to become more? Maybe... (AN: this happens after 01x11, I don't know if my guess is accurate, probably not, but I actually have no idea what happens after 01x11. bare with me here.)
1. Chapter 1

_Octavia followed him hesitantly down the hallway, eyes shining with fear and excitement under the dark mask that covered half her face. He smiled to himself. Best brother on the Ark._

_Only brother on the Ark, but that was beside the point._

_He felt Octavia's hand slip out of his, and he watched as she sprinted into the party, dancing to the music. All of a sudden Jasper appeared from the shadows, holding a rifle._

"_Jasper what the hell…"_

_Lincoln appeared on the other end of the room, and Jasper's shot rang out, piercing the cheery atmosphere of the party and in the same moment piercing Lincoln's skull. Octavia screamed. He tried to run to her, to get her out of the hell erupting here, but before he could move, a pair of airlock doors shut in front of him. He pressed his hand against the glass. The room on the other side was empty now except for his sister. She slowly removed her mask and let it fall to the ground. "This is your fault."_

"_Octavia I'm going to get you out of there. I'm going to keep you safe."_

_The room began to deteriorate around her, huge pieces of metal were flying into space. The floor was disappearing, falling into a black abyss and getting closer to where Octavia stood._

"_This is all your fault."_

"_No, Octavia, no! Somebody help! Somebody help me!"_

"_All your fault." Jaha appeared behind her and gripped her shoulders with hands still soaked in blood from his gunshot wound. Dax stood next to them, blood trickling down his collarbone, gun to Octavia's skull. Hundreds of others floated in the black of space, waiting._

"_Don't take her, take me! Hurt me, kill me!"_

"_We are hurting you." Murphy appeared directly in front of the air lock doors. The floor continued to fall away. "We're putting the rope around your neck."_

"_We're torturing you." Octavia said it with poison, eyes glinting with hatred._

"_We're bleeding you out," Jaha spat._

"_We're suffocating you." This came from the three hundred people already in the black of space._

"_No, no, not her. Please." Warm wetness trickled down his face. He was on his knees. Begging. Pleading with the dead and the undead for the life of his sister, who hated him. Who was ready to leave with them._

"_Your fault."_

_With those final words from Octavia, the floor fell away, and everything went black._

"_No! No, Octavia, please, no!"_

"Bellamy? Bellamy! Bellamy wake up!"

"No, no…" Bellamy sat up with a start, eyes flying open. He felt his whole body shaking, and his bare back was covered in sweat. And there, next to his bed, looking very concerned, was the Princess herself. "Clarke. Dammit." He rolled his eyes and fell back into bed. "What do you want?"

He could see her fighting with herself, trying to figure out if she should ask. "Bellamy…"

"Nightmare, Princess, that's it. I'm fine. Now tell me why you needed me so desperately that you came into my tent while I was resting."

"Right. Well I just thought I'd tell you that Finn and I had a less than successful trip outside the walls. Mainly because we got attacked and captured by grounders, who threatened to kill Finn if I didn't save a girl that was injured in the bridge explosion. I did, so Finn's alive, but I'd just like for that to never ever happen again. So next time we leave the camp I'd like you to be with us. That's all." She turned to walk away but Bellamy's hand shot out and encircled her wrist.

"Not so fast princess." She turned around, a look of pure annoyance darkening her features.

"What now?"

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, they didn't hurt me, they needed me to save someone's life. My wrists are a little sore because they did chain me up, but I'm fine."

Bellamy glanced down at where his hand still held her wrist. He released. "Sorry, Princess." He looked back up at her face and saw pure exhaustion. "Go rest, I think Octavia can handle a couple stupid injuries while you nap. You deserve it."

"Damn straight." Clarke turned on her heal and marched out of the tent. Bellamy smiled to himself. As much as he and Clarke butted heads, he couldn't deny that they worked well together, and she was definitely made of leadership material. He wondered where this camp would be if he didn't have Clarke to force him to look before leaping. He wondered where he would be if Clarke wasn't around to remind him who he was. He decided the answer was most likely the same for both.

"Probably dead."

x

"All set. Next time you're throwing knives, try to avoid retrieving yours while someone else is throwing." The boy hurriedly thanked her and scampered out of the dropship. He had been nicked in the shoulder by another kid's knife during free time. Clarke sat back and thanked whatever was watching over them that it hadn't been as bad as it could have been. They didn't need to dig any more graves.

"Hey Clarke." She bristled at that voice. As she turned to face its owner, she painfully recalled the days when the hoarse baritone was her favorite sound, a relief from the cacophony of her day. But she pushed away the memories and faced the boy.

"What is it, Finn?" She saw his face crumple a bit before he collected it back into a smile. She almost felt bad for him.

Almost. "Nothing, I just wanted to come in, say hi, see how you were doing. Maybe thank you for saving my life."

"I didn't save your life, Finn, I saved a grounder girl's life, and the grounders spared you."

"You saved her life for me though."

"Get over yourself, Finn."

"It's true though! And I'm grateful."

"Well I saved her, and you consequently, because it was the right thing to do. Nothing more." Clarke said this pointedly, enunciating every word. "It was nothing more than a moral obligation. You're welcome." Clarke immediately regretted her add on because at those two words, Finn's face lit up.

"Well, I guess it's true then, high pressure situations do weird things to relationships." He grinned flirtatiously. "Am I really welcome, Princess?"

"Please leave, Finn." Clarke spun on her heel and walked over to organize the medical supplies. She heard footsteps approaching her, which she promptly ignored.

"Clarke, come on, you can't stay mad at me forever. And Raven broke it off with me, so we can-"

Clarke spun around, eyes on fire. "We can what? Huh, Finn? What can we do? Go back to the art supply store and get naked and act like this never happened? Immediately pretend Raven is just another inconsequential girl in the camp and not your _very recent_ ex?" She took a deep breath and tried to lower her voice. "Look, I'm not mad at you anymore, though you do somehow manage to piss me off in new ways every day. But I get it. You thought you'd never see her again. I just," she paused, figuring out how to word it. "It's just that, after Raven, and the bridge, I can't trust you. And after the way you acted after Raven came down, I'm not interested in pursuing a friendship with you. So I'm not still mad that you screwed me and never told me you had a girlfriend. I just don't care for your company. Now, if you please, I'd like to relax a little bit before the next kid comes in with another stupid injury." She turned back around and continued to pointlessly rearrange herbs and needles. She felt her muscles relax with every retreating footstep.

She turned around and sat herself facing away from the entrance on a mattress left over from the grounder virus. She concentrated on stilling her shaking hands. She wouldn't admit it to anybody, but a day later she was still trying to get over the kidnapping. The grounder leader did not like her, and by this point, Clarke reciprocated those feelings. _God damn savages, won't even listen when I try to explain, when I try to apologize. They want a war, they don't care that we're just a bunch of scared kids. That I'm just some scared kid. I'm just some stupid, scared kid who's trying to be a doctor in a world without medicine. Dammit. _Clarke wasn't even trying to stop shaking anymore. She hadn't cried yet, when they got back she didn't cry. When she went to bed, she was too exhausted to cry, she simply fell into a gloriously dreamless sleep. And she had been patching up children all day. But now, she was alone. She had finally told off Finn, and she was tired of holding it in. She let a broken sob escape her lips, and tears rolled down her face.

Just then, the fabric flap at the entrance to the dropship swished and she heard approaching footsteps. She'd had enough. She whirled. "Finn dammit go away!" She came face to face with a smirk and deep brown eyes.

"Space walker bothering you, Princess? I can set him straight for you." Clarke simply closed her eyes, turned back to face the wall, and sat back down on the bloodstained mattress.

"Bellamy. Now isn't a really great time."

"Apparently. Want to tell me what's being a royal pain up our Princess's ass?"

Clarke inhaled shakily. "I'm just barely closing in on eighteen. I'm still a kid myself and I'm supposed to be leading all these kids. Leading them into a war, no less. I don't know what the hell I'm doing, and the grounders don't care. They don't care that I didn't chose to be sent down here. They don't care that I didn't choose to be leader in their eyes. They don't even care that we didn't know they were here, or that we didn't mean to harm them. They just want war. And they'll get it. And we can't win. And it's all on me." By now she was crying, tears rolling freely down her cheeks and into her lap. She felt a strong hand grip her shoulder.

"Not all on you, Princess. Remember, we're leading these idiots into war together."

She knew he was trying to lighten the mood, to lighten her mood, but it wasn't working. "I just want to go home." She covered her face as sobs wracked her body. She felt Bellamy come around to sit next to her and his strong arm wrapped around her shoulders and pulled her in. She turned her head to bury it in the crook of his shoulder, and felt his other hand reach up to finger comb her hair.

"Clarke." She didn't respond. She was trying to gather herself. "Clarke, I'm sorry about your mom." That didn't help. She lost control of her emotions again. She felt his arm grip her tighter. "We'll figure something out. You're not alone, Clarke." She nodded into his jacket.

After a couple minutes, she felt better. She sat back and let Bellamy unwrap himself from her. They sat, not touching, not talking, for a while. Then Bellamy got up, grabbed a rag, soaked it in water, and handed it to Clarke. "Wash your face, Princess." Clarke nodded and listened to his footsteps retreating. She may have hated him at the beginning, but right now, she wouldn't want to lead alongside anyone other than Bellamy.


	2. Chapter 2

Bellamy heard rustling behind and immediately spun around to face the noise, gun at the ready. When he realized who the gun was trained on, he relaxed. "Do you enjoy sneaking up on people, Princess?"

"Bellamy, we need to talk." Always with the serious demeanor. Bellamy knew there was a fun girl hiding somewhere in there, and he was going to dig her out. But maybe not today.

"So talk then. My ears are open." He smirked as she rolled her eyes, and he felt a little lighter at the sight of the corners of her mouth twitching against her will.

"Bellamy, we're out of bullets. Raven can't make any more. And the grounders are going to come at some point, who knows when? We have to do something, we have to figure something out." He leaned his back against the wall. They were standing just outside the camp. Bellamy closed his eyes and took one hand off the gun to massage his temple. She was right. He had three rounds left in his gun and no more replacement clips. Many were on watch with nothing but knives for protection, slinging empty guns on their backs to scare off the grounders. And he had no idea what to do about it.

Man, when he had found these guns, he had been so happy. Packed in grease and loaded with ammo, they were the answer to the problem of keeping the camp safe. He felt taller, carrying them back to camp, Clarke by his side. Now he had Clarke still by his side, but no guns on his back, and he could feel himself shrinking. _What good are these stupid machines without bullets in the clip?_ He fought a sudden urge to chuck his gun into the forest.

"I think we may have to leave."

That shook him up a little. "Leave, Princess? What, do you want to just haul the drop ship on our backs so some other radiation soaked mountain? Build a new wall? Where would we go?"

She frowned at him. "Octavia said that when Lincoln asked her to leave with him-"

"He what?"

"Bellamy stop. She didn't leave did she? There are more important things to worry about."

He couldn't help it, he was shaking with his anger. "I should have killed him when I had the chance." He dug his nails into the wooden wall, attempting to still his shuddering hands.

"Bellamy." Her voice made him pause. It was filled with…he wasn't sure. He looked at her. Her eyes were boring into him, filled with—was that concern? Sympathy? He wasn't sure, all he knew was something in her eyes was pleading with him to settle down. For some reason, that made it much easier to relax his muscles and control the anger that seconds ago was bubbling up within him.

"Sorry, Princess. Go on, what is this bit of information Octavia gave you?" He felt sarcasm dripping from the last sentence and saw Clarke's lips press into a line, but he couldn't figure out why his tone bothered her. It's not like she was tight with Octavia. He made a mental note to figure out what her deal was about Octavia later.

"She said that Lincoln was going to take her east, across the sea. That there was another clan that would take them. Maybe we could go that way too, and find territory, free of grounders. Or, better yet, find a clan that will accept us."

"You mean become savages."

"No, Bellamy. I mean survive." She turned back and headed towards the gate. "Think about it," she threw over her shoulder. He watched her disappear around the bend and into the camp. He closed his eyes again, continuing to massage his temple. _Leave? She can't be serious._ But he knew her too well to actually believe that. He knew she was serious. And even though he trusted her, he didn't know how he felt about joining the grounders.

Actually, scratch that, he knew exactly how he felt about it. He hated the idea.

x

Clarke shook her head as she let her knees buckle by the fire. Bellamy was so stubborn sometimes, and she knew that this plan, above all other things, was going to take a long time and a whole lot of arguing to get him to agree to it. But it seemed to her that it was the only way. Communication with the Ark was still down, she didn't even know if anyone was still alive up there.

She knew who wasn't alive up there.

She shrugged her shoulders, shaking off that thought. This wasn't the time for that. This was the time to think up logistics. If she had a plan essentially set in stone, it might be easier to get Bellamy on board with it.

But the more she thought about it, the more she realized that there were no logistics to think about except packing up the camp. She didn't know where other grounders lived, she had no clue which ones would be friendly. They needed a scouting mission.

She went ramrod straight at that thought. Scouting. That was the answer. If they had the camp pack up back here and went to scout out a friendlier grounder clan, they could return and bring back the camp fairly quickly, not to mention that getting out of these campgrounds was feeling more and more like a vacation every day. She needed another trip.

"Princess." She jumped at the sound of his voice. "I want to talk to you about this idea of yours."

She turned to face him, unable to wait to talk to him about her idea. "A scouting party."

He looked taken aback. "What?"

"A scouting party." She bubbled with excitement. "We'll get a few people to come with us to find new territory, and while we're gone, we'll leave a few trusted people in charge to help pack up the camp. That way, when we find someplace suitable, we can head back and leave with the rest of the camp right away."

"Whoa there, Princess, I haven't even agreed to any of this."

"Do you have a better idea?"

He made a face. She could tell he didn't have anything, that he might even understand that this was their best option. But he still didn't like it. He locked eyes with her, and she could practically see him losing the fight, giving in to what he knew was the best, and possibly the only option. "Okay Clarke. You and me. Scouting trip. I'll leave Raven in charge to get camp cleaned up."

She felt a smile break onto her face. "Okay. We'll leave tomorrow at first light. The bridge may have slowed them down, but I have a feeling grounders recover pretty fast." She turned and began walking to her tent before stopping. She turned to face Bellamy again. "Get some rest, Bellamy. Tomorrow is going to be a long day."

x

_Tomorrow is going to be a long day._ Bellmay smiled to himself as he pulled off his shirt. _No, Princess, tomorrow is going to be great._ He was so happy to finally get away from this suffocating camp. Away from idiot kids who get hurt just sitting around, away from the constant threat of grounders, disease, and starvation. Oh, sure, it would still be there, eating at the back of his mind, but it would be less prevalent. He could force it to the back of his mind, close it off, forget that almost eighty lives were balancing on his already overworked shoulders.

_Almost eighty lives. Not even eighty._ He sank into his makeshift bed and pulled a fur up around his shoulders. _We came down here as one hundred. We've dwindled down to less than eighty. And we've done so under my charge._

"_All your fault."_

Bellamy shuddered awake. When had he fallen asleep? He wasn't sure, all he knew was that his stupid dream had made a comeback for the umpteenth time in a row. Octavia had been telling him everything was his fault every night for the past couple weeks, and he grit his teeth hard when he realized he didn't disagree. It was his fault. What if he had just let Clarke handle things from the beginning? What if he had let her calm the anarchy, organize the troops, get everything together. What if he hadn't even come down here? They wouldn't have sent off the flares, they would have had the radio, and maybe the grounders wouldn't be at war with them. Maybe the Ark would have sent down reinforcements sooner. Maybe Octavia would be living happily on the ground, probably becoming friends with Clarke, would she even miss him?

"_All I do is hurt people. I'm a monster."_

"_You saved my life today. And you may be a total ass half the time…but…I need you. We all need you."_

Did they really, though? Or did they only need him now to clean up the mess he made earlier? Did he demand his own necessity with all of his screw-ups? He massaged his temple again. He knew the answer. The soft wind rustling the fabric of tent sounded like somebody whispering _yes_, answering the question for him.

Suddenly the yeses got louder, more definitive. He realized it wasn't the tent. It was another tent down the row, where apparently one young female was very pleased with what she was experiencing. Bellamy rolled his eyes and half considered yelling for the happy couple to keep it down, but he thought better of it and let his head fall back onto his pillow. Maybe he could get one whole hour without watching his sister get pulled out to space with everyone he ever hurt.

He chuckled despite himself. Not likely.

x

Bellamy awoke with the fur sticking uncomfortably to his sweaty torso, and Clarke's hand gripping his arm. "Bellamy." He shrugged her off.

"I'm fine, Princess. Don't worry yourself."

"Bellamy I was just going to tell you that the sun is rising, so we should get going. You have ten minutes."

He rolled over to watch her leave the tent. He wanted to thank her for being all business when he needed it. Anyone else would have dwelled on his obviously disturbed sleep, whether to poke fun, ask him about it, or even just acting awkwardly around him like his nightmare was tangibly sitting right in front of them, always in sight. But she sensed when he didn't want to talk about it. When he needed to forget about it. And she moved on seamlessly, almost as if she didn't even know what he was talking about.

She did know. He knew it. She had seen him broken, feverish, and woken him from his nightmares at least twice before this. She knew about every demon beneath his skin, itching to claw its way to the surface. But she didn't talk about them, not unless he did first. He remembered the days when he hated her and wondered why he ever made that decision. He felt as though he had decided from the moment she tried to stop him opening the doors that he disliked her. And he had fueled that with every move she made against him. But now he saw her in a whole new light. _She would have made a great chancellor_, he mused as he packed his bag with rations. She was sensitive, yet somehow incredibly strong at the same time. She seemed to understand every side of every issue, or at least be willing to take each side into account. She could make hard decisions, and she had this intuition for when it was time to think and when it was time to act. She most certainly could have led these kids, with Wells at her side as her muscle. She only needed him because Wells was dead. And that was his fault too.

_Dammit. I really screwed everything up._ He wanted to leave again, but he realized the only way to fix his mess was to stick around and help Clarke clean it up. "Bellamy, it's time. Are you ready?"

He swung his pack onto his back and took a breath. "Ready as I'll ever be, Princess."

She eyed him curiously, obviously sensing that something was up. But before he could pull out his signature smirk and make a smart comment about her staring, she had already turned and begun marching toward the gate. He sighed, thinking how she may just be too intuitive for his smart ass attitude. But then again, that's why he liked her. And he did. He liked her. He may not admit it out loud but it was pretty much an unspoken rule at this point. She had earned his respect. He set out after her, meeting her at the gate. "Alright. Let's go."


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: an anonymous commenter said that i used the nickname "princess" too much and it took away from the story. i read through my first two chapters and realized that i did sort of way overuse princess in bellamy's dialogue so i tried to cut back a lot on his use of the nickname in this chapter. thank you to the guest reviewer who let me know about that, i wouldn't have caught it! to all the rest of my readers, thanks for reading, and please give feedback if you have it, i do want to hear what you think and how i could improve the story. love y'all! 3**

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They'd been walking for at least an hour now, and Bellamy was loving it, but he could see Clarke struggling to keep up with him. "Hey, I need to rest a second, let's stop." She gave him a knowing look, but she willingly stopped with him, dropping her pack on the ground.

It was then that he noticed how heavily she was actually breathing. And as he scanned her to make sure she was okay, his eyes locked onto a particularly dark stain on her pants, where the fabric seemed to cling to her skin a little too much for his liking. "Clarke."

He reached out to touch her left thigh where the fabric was darker, but she immediately retreated. "Bellamy…" It came out like she was warning him, or pleading with him, either way he didn't care. That was blood. He knew it was blood.

"Clarke, what the hell is that?" She puckered her lips in annoyance.

"It's nothing, Bellamy. Look I just scraped myself up a little back there, when I tripped over the rock. It's just a scratch."

"Like hell it is. That's too much blood for a little scratch, Clarke. Let me see your leg."

"Bellamy, stop."

"Clarke!" She froze. He had said it a little louder than he meant to, and he could only imagine the look on his face. He couldn't help it! She was hiding an injury from him for some unknown reason, and it was really pissing him off. He grabbed her arm and led her to a tree. She leaned back and slid down the trunk, relenting. She unbuttoned her pants. "Whoa there, Princess, I don't think this is the time or place."

"Bellamy, you immature asshole, you're the one who wanted to see my thigh. What, were you going to cut open one leg of my only pants I have left?"

Seeing her point, he motioned for her to continue. She pulled her pants down around her knees, letting her slightly oversized shirt fall over her exposed underwear. Bellamy crouched beside her to get a better look at her leg. From this close up he could see that the 'scratch' was actually a huge gash running up the side of her left thigh. He could see that it had been stitched up and partially healed, but the tumble she took in the woods must have torn her stitches and reopened the wound. He let out a low whistle. "How'd you get this one, Princess?"

"Grounders."

"Grounders." He searched her face.

"Yes, Bellamy. They sliced me open a little. A bit of encouragement to hurry it up with healing the grounder girl. When I finished up with her they would get me a needle and thread. I finished, I sewed myself up, I came back to camp, end of story." Bellamy winced.

"You said they didn't hurt you."

"I didn't want you to worry."

"Why the hell didn't Spacewalker tell me?"

"Because he doesn't like you."

"Well the feeling's mutual," he growled. Clarke smiled. "Alright, well let's stitch you back together then. You've got a needle?"

"And some wire. No thread though." She grimaced, already anticipating what was to come. Bellamy watched as she dug through her bag for the needle and wire. She carefully threaded the wire and was about to begin stitching when Bellamy's hand shot out and grabbed her wrist almost without his consent. That was happening a lot lately.

"Clarke, I can do this." She eyed him cautiously.

"And why do you think you can do this better than the resident doctor?"

Bellamy chortled. "Because my mother was a seamstress, and I know you sewed yourself up the first time, but you shouldn't have to do it twice and besides that, wire hurts like hell." He gently took the needle from her hand and gripped her thigh. "Bite something, Princess, though preferably not me."

Clarke took a rag from her pack and put it in her mouth to stop herself from screaming. Then she dug her fingers into the soft dirt and nodded at Bellamy. He nodded back, looked down, took a deep breath, and inserted the needle into her thigh.

x

Bellamy's hand was incredibly steady, almost surgeon-like. Clarke bit hard into the rag rolled between her teeth, tasting cotton-balls and dirt. _Everything tastes like dirt here on earth, though. _She was blinking back tears. Bellamy was right, thread was one thing but wire was a whole other animal. And it hurt worse than like hell. She bit down harder on the rag. Her leg would require ten stitches at the least. Closer to twenty if she wanted it properly closed. She dug her fingers deeper into that damn soil that flavored everything. He was on the second stitch, she had a long way to go.

x

He was on the sixth stitch. Every muscle in Clarke's body was visibly taught, including her left thigh, the place he was currently trying to sew back together. "Hey, I know it hurts, but it's harder for me and more painful for you when you tense the leg I'm stitching. Relax." He lightly rubbed her thigh, attempting to coax it to release. When he felt the muscle unclench a little, he went back to work.

On the tenth stitch, he pulled tight and Clarke made a surprised gurgling sound. He suddenly felt her hand gripping his arm, nails almost piercing through his jacket into his skin. "We're halfway there." She didn't let go of his arm, and he didn't ask her to.

x

Twenty stitches. Clarke breathed a sigh of relief when Bellamy finally secured the wire and clipped the extra. She carefully pulled her pants back up over the newly sutured leg and buttoned them again. She could practically feel Bellamy's amused stare on her, but she didn't look up until she was fully clothed again. "All right, let's keep moving." She eased her way into a standing position. Bellamy instantly went in to help her.

"Easy there, Princess. We just stitched you up, you sure you don't want to wait just a little longer to keep walking?" Bellamy searched her face, genuine concern in his eyes. She marveled at how this gentle, caring partner could also be the stone faced soldier she saw every day, or the anarchist rebel who took control immediately after landing. "Hey, earth to Princess, I realize I have dreamy eyes, but I'd appreciate if you didn't get lost in them right after so much blood loss." Clarke realized she had been gazing into those eyes, and now they looked even more concerned than before. "Clarke. Come in Clarke."

"Sorry."

"Do you feel foggy? Light headed? How many fingers am I holding up?" She rolled her eyes and slapped away the three fingers he was now proceeding to wave in front of her face.

"Bellamy I am fine, I swear. Can we get moving? I want to be as far from grounder territory as possible by nightfall." She swung her pack onto her back and started marching off. A wave of nausea suddenly gripped her and she fell to her knees, dry heaving.

"Clarke, maybe we should rest a little longer." Bellamy was eyeing her, still looking concerned. "You lost a lot of blood."

She sat back and put her head between her knees, like her mom taught her to do when she got dizzy on the Ark. "Just give me a minute, I'll be fine."

"That's what you said when you practically passed out back at camp during the grounder virus outbreak."

"Yeah well I really will this time. Just grab me something to eat, preferably berries. The natural sugars will help with recovery from the blood loss." Bellamy obediently went into his pack and pulled out a pouch of berries, placed on the top of everything so they wouldn't be crushed.

"Here you go." She took the pouch and popped a couple berries into her mouth.

"Thanks. Alright, let's get moving again."

"What, are those magic berries? That was a pretty instantaneous recovery."

Clarke turned to look at him wearing the most exasperated look she could muster. "Bellamy. I'm. Fine. Let's go. Grounders are coming, and what's left of us is not going to be sitting around waiting for them if I have anything to do with it."

"Clarke, this isn't all on you." He looked genuine, like he actually cared about the immense weight on her shoulders.

"You're right," she bit back, "it's on both of us, so let's move." She immediately regretted that last comment when she saw the hurt look in his eyes. He was doing the best he could for camp, all while trying to shoulder her and her stupid injury and stubborn disposition, and she seemed to be doing all she could to make it harder on him. She didn't know why she was in such a mood, but she couldn't seem to help how difficult she was being.

She turned away and started walking, and she heard the crunch of leaves under foot as Bellamy wordlessly followed her. She would apologize to him later. Right now, there was a lot more at stake than her relationship with Bellamy Blake, rebel leader. She had a whole camp to save from certain death at the hands of savage grounders. Clarke remembered what they had done to Jasper, and to Finn, and countless others who were no longer in the camp.

She doubled her pace.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Thanks to all my readers. I had a little trouble with this one just because it's very hard to write Bellamy and Clarke on a walk together alone without over-focusing on her injury or Bellamy's clearly budding feelings. But I tried. Hopefully the storyline will get more interesting in the next chapter ;). **

**Leave me reviews! I love hearing what you have to say.**

* * *

"Clarke." They had been walking for going on four hours without a water break, and Bellamy's mouth felt like it was made of cotton. And if he felt like this without a gash in his thigh, he couldn't imagine how Clarke was feeling. She truly amazed him sometimes, how tough she was. He had really underestimated her when they first got down here. She was a rock.

The rock kept walking at a pace that might actually get her in trouble on the Ark because of 'unnecessary exercise leading to overuse of oxygen'. "What, Bellamy."

"Clarke, we need a water break." She paused. "You need a water break."

She turned and glared at him. "Fine, Bellamy, you can have your water break. But I swear if you don't stop babying me I'm going to—"

"Going to what, Princess? Thank me because I'm making sure you take care of yourself as well as you take care of everyone else?" He smirked. "I'm really just trying to make sure you don't pass out. Protecting you is already a challenge, imagine me having to protect you while you're unconscious? No actually that might be easier let's keep walking."

Clarke rolled her eyes and leaned against a tree while she sipped water from her water skin. "Go float yourself," she muttered. But he could see the corners of her mouth twitching up against her will, and he was satisfied. She lowered the skin and closed her eyes, letting her head fall back against the tree. Bellamy decided to do the same. He shut his eyes and tilted his head upwards until he could feel the sun on his face. It was still such a wonderful feeling, even after weeks on earth. He had a feeling it would never get old.

"Bellamy," Clarke muttered in a lazy, almost tired tone. He didn't bother opening his eyes.

"Your highness?"

"Do you think we'll make it back in time?" Now Bellamy let his chin fall down and opened his eyes to find Clarke was still resting her head against the tree, eyes still closed. But her face had a pinched look about it, like it always did when she was thinking hard or making a tough decision. Like it did when she had saved him from killing Atom in the woods that day. The day he realized she was far more resilient than he had thought. _Damn it Bellamy, stop that. Not the time, not the place._

"I think," he answered honestly, "we'll do the best we can, and we'll take the punches when and if they come." She pulled her head off the tree and opened her eyes now. She nodded, a steely look in her blue eyes.

"Well," she drew out, "the best we can is certainly not just standing here resting." And with that she began to walk again. Bellamy started to follow when she stopped again and turned around. "And Bellamy? Sorry." She didn't have to say what for, he knew she meant how she had snapped at him before. And he didn't have to say he forgave her, because he was never angry with her in the first place. She turned and began walking again and this time, Bellamy caught up and fell into step beside her.

x

They walked in silence for a while. Clarke's leg was still throbbing and she could feel the pulling at her skin with every step. She tried to tune out the pain, she listened to the sound of the fallen leaves being crushed underfoot. It had to be one of the best sounds in the entire world.

She never looked at Bellamy marching next to her, but she could feel his eyes on her sometimes, assessing when they needed to stop and rest again. She was grateful that he didn't force her to take breaks every five minutes. He was worried about her, but he also knew that she knew her own limits, and he knew enough not to force her to break when she didn't feel the need to. _Finn would make me stop every five seconds._

Finn. She hadn't thought of him once on this trip, but now all of a sudden, he was making a guest appearance in her thoughts. Again. Clarke was so angry at him, but she knew that the anger didn't come out of hatred, it came out of love. Because she had loved him, she had. Or she thought she had. She didn't even know anymore. But she knew that the only way he could have hurt her this badly is if she had felt _something_ at least a little strong for him. Looking back, Clarke didn't even remember how she had gotten sucked into his Finn's charms. She had been unsure at first, but he had quickly won her over.

Unfortunately she hadn't been the only one to be won over by Finn's charms. But now, both Clarke and Raven had told him it was over. Now they were both done. Well, maybe not Raven so much. Raven was infuriated, but Clarke also saw the longing looks she shot Finn when she thought nobody was watching. But Clarke, oh Clarke was definitely done. She shook her head. Finn followed her around like an annoying toddler that always wants to play with the big kids. It was ridiculous. She forgot what she ever saw in Finn.

x

It got really foggy and really cold very quickly. Clarke didn't remember seeing a fog roll in. But luckily enough, this fog was white, not yellow, and it wasn't going to burn their skin. So she wasn't too worried.

Well, she wasn't too worried about their skin, anyway. She was more worried about herself. She noticed that the fog was really only in her peripheral vision, no matter where she looked. And even though it seemed colder, the sun was at its highest point in the sky, and they had been walking for hours on end. She should be sweating with the heat.

She _was_ sweating. But she was also freezing. _Uh oh. Maybe we should take another break._ Clarke knew that this wasn't a fever. The sweat actually was from walking forever with the sun beating down. But her vision was blurry, she was cold, and she realized that her head felt about ten times lighter than it usually did. Symptoms of a major blood loss combined with minor dehydration and over-exertion. They should stop for a meal and water. That would help a lot.

"Bellamy."

"Hm?"

"Stop," was all she got out before the fog colored her vision white and then everything just went black.

x

He caught her, barely.

_He caught her, barely. She glanced at his hand gripping her wrist, her hand gripping his, and their eyes met, hers filled with disbelief. He could easily solve this whole bracelet issue right now, and she knew it. And he knew it. Their eyes never wandered, they were locked in a staring contest, Clarke's eyes pleading. And his eyes…what were his eyes doing? Were they hardened, emotionless orbs? Were they showing her what he was thinking right now? Because if they were, she should be scared. He had control of her life, and he was thinking about keeping the council on the Ark, keeping his consequences for killing Jaha on the Ark, and how just…losing his grip…would easily solve the problem of that damn bracelet._

_Princess dies, the Ark's hope of coming to earth dies. Two birds, one stone._

_And yet he held on. Her disbelief grew with every second, like she what he was contemplating and was amazed he hadn't decided to let her die. There they were, suspended in a moment where Bellamy could solve all of his problems, save himself._

_And he gripped her tighter. Something inside him told him not to let go, that if he let go, maybe he was a hopeless criminal. That if he let this girl die, he had no right to claim he was the protector of Octavia. Clarke was less than two years older than her._

_And that same something also told him he would need her. And he almost let go then, just to prove he didn't need anybody. But he didn't. He didn't even let go when Finn and Wells pulled her up out of the pit. The moment was over. The eternal second where Bellamy had the decision, whether Clarke lives or dies, in his hands, had come to an end. And yet his fingers still encircled her wrist._

And he was so, so glad he hadn't let go. Honestly, without Clarke around, he would lose his shit. But he would also have no one at whom to explode when he did lose his shit.

He quieted the panic rising in his gut. She was still breathing, she was just pale. _I told her to take more breaks. Since when is it my job to nurse the doctor?_ He carefully lay her down on the ground. He couldn't really spare any cloth right now, it was too cold to wet his shirt and they didn't have any cloth scraps in their bags, so instead he wet his hand down with cold water and padded her on the cheeks and forehead. She shifted, turning her head, and her eyelids fluttered.

x

_A clammy hand touched her cheek. Somebody was probably feverish and had come to get her but she had to admit, that was a weird way to wake her up. The hand moved to her forehead and then her other cheek. What in the world…_

Clarke's eyes opened to see Bellamy, somehow pulling off a look that was both concerned and amused, with just a hint of 'I told you so'. She wasn't asleep in her tent, she was passed out on the forest floor, and that was Bellamy touching her face. With a very cold, wet hand. She flinched away. "Why is your hand wet?"

"Had to wake you up somehow, and there was no rag to wet down. So I improvised." She wrinkled her nose. It was smart idea though. Sometimes Bellamy surprised her by actually showing intellect as well as leadership, and she knew they were lucky to have him down here. "I think it's time to take a meal break, Clarke. Those berries don't seem to have done everything you wanted them to." She nodded in agreement. She suddenly remembered that she was actually about to suggest the same thing before she apparently fainted.

Bellamy pulled some rations out of his bag and handed some of them to her. "Bellamy, I have my own."

"I am fully aware of that, Princess, but you seem to be needing a little extra at the moment, and I don't need as much."

Clarke paused. "That's very thoughtful," she said, accepting the extra rations he was holding out to her, "thank you."

"I just really don't want to have to deal with you passing out _again_, it's really inconvenient for me." Clarke rolled her eyes at Bellamy's smirk, but she saw it didn't quite reach his eyes, where there was still real concern lurking about.

"I'm fine, Bellamy." She said it playfully, but her eyes met his as she did, and she tried to silently let him know that she really was fine.

x

"I'm fine, Bellamy." Her tone was joking but her eyes were sincere. He was still worried, but he let it go.

"I know you are. Now eat. We've got to start moving again as soon as possible. We don't know how much further we have to go." She would be fine, he knew she would. That girl was tough as nails. He couldn't believe how wrong he had been when he had first met her. Princess was a very accurate nickname for her, but not for the reasons he had started calling her that. He had thought she was dainty, stuck up. A high bred of the ark who was too good for the rest of these criminals. Entitled, and most of all not cut out for the challenges earth would present.

The reality was that she was smart, kind, and just. A gentle healer and a firm leader. She knew how to admit she was wrong and she also knew when she was right. And she really was tough as hell. She was a brave princess, a born leader.

He shook his head when he caught himself watching her. She didn't notice anyway, she was too busy devouring her rations. He chuckled to himself, glad that she was eating. She'd need it for the rest of the trek. And then tonight they could get some sleep, and tomorrow she should be fine. He knew how blood loss worked, and she had lost a lot, but not so much that it would affect her for a very long time. A night's rest should resolve any issues remaining after her body had a full day to replenish.

"Bellamy." He focused his eyes and looked at Clarke, who was already halfway through her own rations. "You need to eat too, and we need to get going. What are you doing?" He nodded and started in on his rations. It wasn't until the first bite he realized how hungry he was. He finished the rest in nearly under a minute.


End file.
